


Muscle Memory

by AMidnightDreary



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bodyswap, Declarations Of Love, Domestic Avengers, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki's magic moves in mysterious ways, M/M, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Pre-Slash, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19330384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary
Summary: Loki and Tony swap bodies by accident. They sort of just roll with it.





	Muscle Memory

**Author's Note:**

> This might be a little weird. And confusing. But it wanted to be written, so I wrote it, and I was tired of working on it any longer, so here it is! Could have used some more work probably, but oh well. I hope you'll like it, anyway!

Tony appears in Loki's apartment and immediately stumbles, the dark parquet flooring and light green walls swallowing him under. He grabs the nearest thing - a bookshelf - to steady himself, but he still falls and lands on his ass, a few books coming down with him.

"Fucking hell," he mutters, and it sounds so odd in this voice that he, despite everything, has to chuckle.

He recovers quickly enough, and then he sits there in Loki's living room for a while, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he just teleported. He squints at one of the books that is lying on the floor next to him, open. It's written in a language Tony doesn't recognize, and there are some weird sigils and patterns on the pages that should not make any kind of sense to him.

They do, though. Tony's brain understands it all perfectly.

 

~

 

Meanwhile, Loki is trapped in an Avengers meeting. Rogers is explaining something, but Loki is barely listening. He's playing around with Anthony's phone instead - he quickly realizes that he could use this tiny thing to hack into every single system of Midgard and wreak havoc. It would just take a few seconds and some taps of his fingers. And these fingers move quickly; they know exactly what to do. Thoughts flicker through his head that are not exactly his, knowledge that he  _ knows _ now but has never actually acquired. 

Anthony would make a splendid villain - or at least a wonderful mischief maker. He's already halfway there. (Loki still thinks, sometimes - like he did in the beginning - that it wouldn’t take a lot to make Anthony… topple over the edge. That driving him an the Avengers apart would be awfully easy. Loki won’t do that, though. Anthony would just end up hating him, and that thought alone fills Loki with dread.)

This, the phone Loki is holding in his hands and everything it is connected to, from JARVIS over the suits to Anthony's brain itself, is its own kind of magic. It's breathtaking.

"Tony.  _ Tony _ , are you even listening?'

Loki doesn't even look up when he says, "Sure I am, Capsicle."

 

~

 

It was an accident. A  _ magical mishap _ , Loki said. Tony still doesn't really understand how it happened, but the thing is that Loki doesn't either, so they're both just trying to accept the fact  _ that _ it happened.

It was this morning - Loki had spent the night in the penthouse, like he often does, and when they woke up… well. They had swapped, somehow. Loki said, somehow managing to get Tony's face to  _ blush _ \- that's how embarrassed he is about the whole thing - that it probably happened during sex and that it should just wear off after a while, and that's about all they know now.

It's weird, but not actually a problem. Or maybe it  _ wouldn't _ be a problem if Loki wasn't still considered a villain by the Avengers and if their relationship wasn't  _ secret. _ But it is secret, sadly - so nobody can know. Nobody except JARVIS, at least.

Which means that they have to pose as each other for the time being. They agreed this morning that they'll just stay out of their usual businesses for the time, so hopefully both the Avengers and the villains won't bother them too much.

They just have to wait.

 

~

 

The evening finds Tony sitting on Loki's sofa, reading one of Loki's books. He hasn't yet quite figured out what to do with these long legs he's got now, but for now he's managed to fold them into a comfortable position.

He hears it when someone opens the front door of the house. He looks up and listens to the sound of feet walking up the stairs until they reach the door of Loki's apartment. He knows the sound of those steps, the rhythm of them, but he isn't sure if that's him recognizing his own step pattern or Loki's brain recognizing it for him.

A key unlocks the door and the steps come closer until Tony himself appears in the living room.

Well.

It's Tony's body, at least.

"You didn't tell me how  _ boring _ these meetings are," Loki complains in Tony's voice as he moves Tony's body to the sofa, finally plummeting down on it.

"I tell you that  _ constantly _ ," Tony says, amused.

Loki sighs and stretches, leaning back his (Tony's) head and closing his (Tony's) eyes. He looks tired - Tony recognizes absolute exhaustion when he sees it on his own face - but he smirks. "I followed your rules, though. I think it went rather well."

"Yeah?"

"I pretended that I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible," Loki says. "There wasn't even any pretending necessary for that."

"I can imagine."

Loki hums. "I gave my best to be, at all times, more clever than all of them together, which was also easy."

"Of course it was."

"And," Loki finishes, "dear Captain Rogers was  _ very _ annoyed with me in the end."

Tony laughs at that and reaches out to run his hand through Loki's hair. Loki sighs again, content this time, and leans into the touch. It's weird, this whole thing. Tony sees his own body, but he knows that it's Loki who's in there, Loki who moves it. Loki who uses Tony's voice to speak and his breath to sigh. The weirdest thing about it is probably that Tony can't stop  _ touching _ \- many would say that's because he's a "textbook narcissist", but that's not it, really. He knows that he's touching his own body, but that's not why he wants to touch it. It's Loki in there, and Tony  _ sees _ Loki in the way he moves, sees him in his own brown eyes. And, somehow, it's like it was in the very beginning, when Tony couldn't stop touching  _ Loki' _ s body because he needed to see every single reaction his touch could cause, hear every sound, feel every part of him.

Loki makes a pleased sound. Tony has heard that sound before - has made it before - but it's different to hear it from a mouth that isn't his own at the moment.

"I think I understand now why you like this so much," Loki mumbles, his eyes closed, enjoying the feel of Tony's fingers in his hair.

Tony smiles; apparently him liking his hair played with so much is his  _ body _ liking it a lot. Is there a word for that? It's not quite muscle memory, is it? But maybe Tony's body remembers Loki's touch, Loki's fingers in brown hair; maybe that's why Loki is liking this so much now, too.

"I wonder," Loki breathes and reaches out to take Tony's hand. Calloused fingertips trail gently over the pale skin of Tony's palm and underarm, following lines that are invisible at the moment, but still exist beneath that illusion of said pale skin.

Tony shivers, and Loki chuckles and retreats his hand again. He sits up, runs a hand through his now disarrayed hair. 

"You teleported here without problems, then?"

"Yeah," Tony says, nodding. "It was fun. Weird, but fun."

"It's magic," Loki corrects. "Did you use any more of it?"

Tony shakes his head and touches his chest, pensive. He can feel Loki's magic, he thinks; it sits in this body just like the arc reactor sits in Tony's, only that it doesn't hurt. It's a warm sort of energy that vibrates beneath this skin, an instinct that Tony can use now without thinking about it. Loki's body is the home of his magic, and his body remembers. It accepted Tony without problems, which is… interesting. But then, Loki said a few times that his magic was fond of him.

"Really?" Loki asks, surprised. "I thought that you wouldn't be able to resist trying it out."

"It's yours," is all Tony says.

Loki smiles. It's undoubtedly  _ Loki's _ smile, not any less so just because it's on Tony's lips. "What did you do all day, then?"

"I read a lot," Tony says, beaming. He takes the book he put on the sofa table earlier and shows a random page to Loki. "This is  _ so  _ interesting. I mean, your brain knows all this stuff already, but it's so  _ cool _ ."

Loki smiles, then blinks in surprise when he looks at the page properly. "Oh," he says and reaches out, taking the book from Tony's hand. He touches the paper. "I can't read this anymore."

"Oh," Tony says. "Er. Probably because your magic stayed with me, and my brain doesn't have Allspeak, right?"

"Yes." Loki sighs and closes the book. "Well. At least I understand all your earthly physics now." He rolls his eyes. "Not that they are in  _ any _ way comparable to magic, but -"

"Oh, come on," Tony interrupts, laughing. "Don't try to fool me with my own voice, that's rude. How impressed are you, huh?"

Loki gives him a minor glare, but it softens quickly enough and he quietly admits, "Very. I always thought your way of handling technology is remarkable, but… it's quite different, experiencing it myself. Your understanding of it all is very similar to my understanding of magic."

"Are you calling me a mage?"

"In your own way, yes."

"Wait, I need that written down - if you ever get all  _ holier-than-thou _ again, I'll want to rub this under your nose."

Loki just laughs. It's Tony's laugh, but Loki-colored.

 

~

 

They order in Japanese food from their usual place. Loki chooses sushi as always, and then finds that Anthony's tongue and palate are not that fond of the taste. At the same time, Anthony is quite disgusted by what is usually his favorite dish.

That's easily fixed, though. They just change plates.

Anthony chatters on about everything and nothing like he always does, and after some time Loki forgets that he is listening to his own voice. He is listening to  _ Anthony _ , that's what matters. 

Being in Anthony's body should feel odd, probably. And it does, in a way - there is this constant pain in Loki's chest, for a start, and breathing is now and then much more difficult than it ever was. (Not for the first time Loki thinks that they have to get the reactor out of Anthony's chest, preferably yesterday.) Apart from that, this body is also very  _ human _ , which means that it gets tired much more quickly than Loki's own. He has no idea how Anthony can go without sleeping for days on end sometimes.

And there's also something else. Something even less pleasant.

"I think I need a drink," Loki says after dinner, with a sigh. He isn't sure how he knows, he just does. Loki has never experienced it in his own body; he's never been one to enjoy alcohol enough to need it. This body is different, though.

"Oh," Anthony makes. The look in Loki's green eyes is one Loki has seen in Anthony's eyes a few times; he's uncomfortable. "I, uh. I'm sorry. It's because it's been an, ah, exciting day, probably, usually I -"

"It's alright," Loki interrupts him softly. They are sitting on the sofa again, and now Loki moves closer to Anthony. He rests his head on what is technically his own shoulder and finds that Anthony didn't lie. Loki's body is really the perfect height for Anthony to lean against. "I won't give in, of course."

Anthony fought hard enough for his current sobriety; the last thing Loki wants is to ruin that.

"Thanks, I guess," Anthony says, still uncomfortable. He doesn't quite speak with his own accent like this, but it's not really Loki's, either. Something in between. Loki finds that he likes it.

Anthony wraps his arm around Loki, his hand returning to play with Loki's hair. It feels very nice, and Loki relaxes into it all. 

Yes, wearing Anthony's body should be weird. But instead it feels like - like Anthony's penthouse. Which is a ridiculous comparison, but nevertheless true. By now, Loki considers this apartment his home; his own place, his own rules,  _ his _ . Anthony's penthouse, though? It's just as good, really. A second home, simply because it's Anthony's. 

Loki falls asleep thinking about that.

 

~

 

On day four, Tony sits in front of the mirror in Loki's bedroom. He knows the reflection it shows him, even though it isn't actually his own. But he still  _ knows _ it, intimately. It belongs to the person he loves more than anything, after all.

So. How does this work?

Tony squints at the mirror, watching how Loki's features move at his command. It's fascinating, really. He tries to tug at the feel of Loki's magic inside him, hoping that it will help him get anywhere. It's been very helpful the last days. Tony never really understood what Loki means when he says that his magic is, in its own way,  _ alive _ , but now he does. It is alive, and it does help him now.

He blinks, surprised, and watches as the pale tone of Loki's skin fades out of existence. His fingertips are dipped into blue color, suddenly, and it wanders up his arms to his throat and down his chest, all the way down to his toes. Lines appear all over his body, his eyes become ruby red.

"Huh," Tony says.

He's so much more  _ comfortable _ like this.

The temperature in the apartment is maybe a little bit too high, but it's bearable. Tony spreads his fingers, watching the muscles work under now blue skin. It's lovely, he thinks, and at the same time very strange - otherworldly, he guesses. Loki  _ is _ an alien, after all. 

" _ What _ are you doing?"

Tony doesn't jump. It's very difficult to sneak up on Loki, what with it creepily good senses and stuff. He just turns and grins at Loki, who is standing in the doorway, Tony's brown eyes wide and shocked. His mouth twitches, just like his hands, and Tony stops grinning.

"Sorry," he says, getting on his feet. God, being this tall is still a bit weird sometimes. "I didn't mean to -"

"Change back," Loki interrupts, speaking through gritted teeth. His eyes flicker over his own body and then he looks away, something that's very clearly disgust scurrying over Tony's face. "I don't -  _ Anthony _ , I - I don't want to see this."

Tony doesn't reply at first, and he also doesn't change back. He approaches Loki slowly, watches how Loki keeps averting his eyes, unable to look at the blue skin of his own body. Tony puts his hands on Loki's chest, below the arc reactor, then lets them wander up until he can cup Loki's face and make him look at him. Loki flinches at the touch of cold hands, then lets out a shuddering breath when he realizes that it's  _ not _ unbearable, not even really unpleasant 

It's still a bit odd, Tony thinks, looking into his own brown eyes like this. But it's doubtlessly Loki in them - Tony  _ recognizes _ him.

"You're more comfortable this way," he says quietly. "Aren't you? You never said."

"No, I -"

"Your body is. It - your skin  _ itches _ , almost. The glamour gets annoying."

Loki looks at him, shocked again - and guilty. "I'm sorry. I know it's… unpleasant. Glamours aren't - actually  _ meant _ to stay on that long, not all the time."

"Yeah, and it doesn't  _ have to _ stay on all the time. You can just - do this, you know. When you're alone, but also with anyone else, really."

Loki laughs - it sounds a little wet - and shakes his head. "Not with  _ anyone _ , surely."

"It's just me now, though."

Loki takes a deep breath and nods, and when Tony leans down -  _ leans down _ , scratch what he thought earlier being tall is amazing - to kiss him, Loki doesn't push him away. They have to break apart after a moment again, though, because they both start to chuckle.

"This  _ is _ a little weird," Loki says under his breath, hands coming up to grasp Tony's shirt. "You're ridiculously short."

"I'm not  _ short _ . I'm perfectly average height, you're just so goddamn tall."

"I like it," Loki mutters, then frowns. "A little bit too much, maybe. This may just be your body speaking."

"Well, my body  _ does _ like you and your awful tallness a little bit too much."

Loki smiles, just briefly. He studies Tony's face, seemingly uncertain. "Do you really want to stay like this?"

"If you don't mind? It  _ is  _ more comfortable."

Loki sighs. "As you wish, then. Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Tony says. Loki's body is pretty much  _ always _ hungry. 

"You'll have to cook something then. These hands don't know how to slice anything decently."

"There's no such thing as  _ slicing things decently _ , Lokes."

"There is."

"No, that's just you and your perfectionism. Thank god that's not physiological."

 

~

 

Apparently, meetings aren’t the only boring part of being an Avenger. Loki has to admit that meetings are still less boring than this, though, whatever… Whatever  _ this _ exactly is.

They, all six of them, are sitting in front of the tv on the Avengers’ community floor. Loki hasn’t seen the movie they are watching before, but Anthony’s brain recognizes bits of it now and then. Now and then, he delivers quips to make the others laugh, because that’s what Anthony would do. Barton threw popcorn at him a few times already. 

Thor keeps asking questions about the movie - he’s still unfamiliar with many Midgardian things -, and after a while it gets annoying. Loki would like to actually  _ watch  _ the movie, thank you very much. For the first time this evening, he doesn’t think before he speaks.

“Could you be quiet for just a  _ few _ minutes, you oaf? Thank you.”

Thor blinks at him, just like the other four.

“Tony?” Steve asks. “You okay?”

Loki curses inwardly, but he catches himself quickly enough. “Sure am, grandpa. Is there any popcorn left?”

 

~

 

It’s a nice and sunny day, Loki is in the tower pretending to be Tony, and Tony is  _ bored _ . He’s not sure whether that’s actually himself or just this body; Loki always grows restless after a few days of doing nothing. And Tony didn’t really do a lot more than nothing, these past days.

On a whim, he decides to pass some time changing all billboards on Times Square to ridiculous holiday videos of the President. (Tony would like to know why they were on Loki’s computer, but he doesn’t really have to ask. For this very reason, probably.)

He isn’t really surprised when the Avengers show up and try to stop him, even though he takes a moment to utter a curse and be relieved to see that Iron Man is nowhere to be seen. He doesn’t know how Loki talked himself out of this, but he probably managed without any problems; Loki is good at talking himself out of things.

Tony understands now why Loki likes these sort of harmless pranks so much. He’s having the fun of his life, just because people are annoyed - and because some other people are laughing and making videos, which will be spread around the entire world soon enough. The only harm this is doing is humiliating the president, just a little, and that can hardly be considered  _ harm _ , really. Loki hasn’t actually harmed anyone in almost five years.

Tony makes his mistake briefly before he teleports away, when he calls down to Clint, “Are you actually still trying to shoot me with arrows, birdbrain?”

Clint blinks in surprise and confusion, and Natasha frowns.

 

~

 

" _ Are you sure that this is a good idea, Mr. Liesmith?" _

"Ah," Loki makes, stepping closer to the edge. "Yes, of course."

" _ I don't think Mr. Stark would approve." _

"Well, he doesn't have to know."

" _ I do not keep such things for him. If he asks - _ "

"JARVIS," Loki interrupts. "I have to be able to control the suit, yes? The next time they request Anthony's assistance, I might not manage to talk my way out of it."

He only barely managed this time already. They were in his apartment, waiting because they couldn't do anything else except waiting, when Iron Man was called on a mission. Loki had said something about being on a business trip in France and therefore being unable to be back in New York in time. Rogers had given in, but they might not get away that easily next time.

Which is why Loki is now standing on the party deck of Anthony's, looking down at the city. Anthony himself is in Loki's apartment, where he spends most of his time at the moment. He's safe there, especially from the other villains that contact Loki now and then.

_ Well _ then, Loki thinks, trailing his fingertips over his underarms. He knows that the implants are there - has felt them often enough - and he also knows that they  _ work _ , but somehow this still isn’t an easy thing to do. Anthony’s body would not survive a fall of this height, and Loki can’t imagine the consequences of that. If this body got damaged beyond repair, would Loki actually  _ die _ ? Would Anthony be stuck in a Jotun’s body for thousands of years?

“What the  _ fuck _ are you doing there?”

Loki jumps - hel, if there’s one thing he hates about being in a mortal body, it’s the fact that everything is so dull. Not in the sense of  _ boring _ , just… muffled. Loki has spent more than a millenium getting used to the impeccable senses of a Jotun, and the senses of a human are  _ not _ an improvement. He’s still trying to adapt to his - in comparison - bad hearing and sight. Sneaking up on him is much easier now, and he doesn’t like that. Also doesn’t like that  _ Anthony _ can be sneaked up on so easily.

He turns to see his own body standing there, just a few steps away from him. Arms crossed, brows raised, eyes glaring in a manner that screams  _ Anthony.  _ Loki sighs.

“You are a traitor, JARVIS.”

“ _ I’m sorry, Mr. Liesmith. _ ”

“We both know that you aren’t.”

“Okay, I’ll ask again,” Anthony says. “What are you  _ doing here _ ? You didn’t actually want to jump, did you?”

“Well,” Loki says, taking a few steps away from the edge, mostly to calm Anthony. “Yes. But only because -”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Anthony cuts him off. Loki’s voice sounds shrill. “You’re in my body! You wouldn’t fucking survive that!”

“I didn’t plan on  _ not _ surviving, Anthony, I just wanted -”

He cuts himself off, this time, because Anthony throws himself at him in a hug, the weight of Loki’s body almost enough to make them both topple over the edge. Loki wraps his arm around him in return and holds him, laughing quietly.

“Anthony,” he says. “Love, everything is fine.”

“Don’t laugh about this,” Anthony says. It’s meant to sound sharp, probably, but given that his face is buried in Loki’s shoulder - well, in  _ Anthony _ ’s shoulder, really; the angle is a little awkward - the words come out slightly muffled. “S’not funny.”

“I’m sorry, “ Loki relents, pressing a kiss to his own black hair and stroking to Anthony’s leather-clad back. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You remember that you have these lovely implants, yes? I just wanted to test them.”

“Why on Earth would you want to do that?” Anthony pulls back, wide green eyes glaring at Loki. “They  _ work _ , it’s absolutely stupid to -”

“I need to be able to operate your suit. We agreed on that, this morning.”

Anthony blinks at him for a moment, confused. The scowl returns quickly enough. “We  _ also _ agreed on doing this together, you know, with me showing you how it works - in my  _ workshop _ . I didn’t agree on letting you jump of my fucking tower!”

“It’s the fastest way to learn, I think,” Loki says, running his hands up and down Anthony’s arms. “Your body will know what to do, I’m sure. It would save us time and effort.”

“And you didn’t think that  _ telling me  _ would be a good idea?!”

“I knew you wouldn’t improve, so -”

“You’re goddamn  _ insane _ ,” Anthony snaps, taking a step away and crossing his arms again. Loki just looks at him, and after a moment he can see the expression on his own face soften. Anthony sighs, throws up his arms and adds, “but,  _ fine _ , you’re not actually wrong. If you think this is the easiest way, by all means, go ahead. Just - fuck, just  _ tell me _ next time you’re planning something like this, okay? Really scared me there for a moment.”

“I’m sorry,” Loki says again, sincerely.

“You’re absolutely mad,” Anthony says.

“Pot, meet -”

“Shut up,” Anthony interrupts, closes the distance between them again, and kisses Loki.

It’s odd, having to crane his neck like this to kiss back; Loki doesn’t know how Anthony has survived until now being as short as he is. It’s fine, though, Loki forgets all about that after a few seconds of kissing. Maybe that’s how Anthony survived.

“This whole drama was  _ completely _ unnecessary,” Anthony hisses when they break apart again, glaring down at Loki. “Don’t ever do something like that again.”

“I won’t,” Loki promises, then grins. “Do I have your permission, then?”

Anthony rolls Loki’s eyes. “Yes, fine. Sure. Go off, I guess.”

Loki’s grin widens. “JARVIS?”

“ _ Everything is ready, Mr. Liesmith _ .”

So Loki takes two, three steps back - doing this is easier when he’s not looking down, but at Anthony - until there’s no ground to walk on anymore, and he falls.

The next seconds are a blur. A ridiculous, exciting blur of wind and laughter and suit parts arranging themselves around Anthony’s body. And that body  _ does _ know what to do, it seems, because suddenly Loki isn’t falling anymore, but shooting upwards again, and it’s  _ exhilarating _ . Anthony told Loki about this many times, about what flying means to him, but only now Loki really  _ understands _ . For this body, this is one of the best feelings in the world, and a part of Loki grows addicted to it far too quickly.

He’s still laughing when he lands on the party deck, the faceplate of the suit sliding up so he can grin at Anthony, who -

Oh.

Anthony, who is, of course, still in Loki’s body, and who is also surrounded by the Avengers. Anthony has lifted his arms, an expression of something like bored annoyance on his face - it’s one of  _ Loki’s _ expressions -, and turns his head to Loki when he lands. Green eyes widen ever so slightly.  _ What now? _

“Tony,” Romanov says, calm and sharp. “Don’t you want to tell us what’s going on?”

“Well,” Loki starts, “it’s a long story, really, so -”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” she says, not even looking at him.

Ah.

Well, damn.

 

~

 

They don’t get around explaining things anymore.  _ Admitting _ them, really. And not just the body swap, but everything - Loki doesn’t want that, Tony knows. He sees the fear in his own eyes, the uncertainty. The thing is, Tony doesn’t know what’s going to happen, either. He’s fairly sure that they won’t be hurt. Loki hasn’t been an actual  _ villain _ for years now, after all; he’s just a trouble maker. The havoc he wreaks is almost gentle in comparison to many other battles they have fought in. 

But, still. In the eyes of the others, Tony and Loki being  _ together _ isn’t a good thing. It’ll take time. Tony’s not going to change a thing, of course - he knew the second he fell in love with Loki, when just occasional things between two not-quite enemies turned into something more, that they wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret forever. He knew that he wouldn’t  _ want _ to keep it a secret forever. They just have to deal with the consequences, now.

Oddly enough - or maybe not that oddly at all -, Thor is happy for them. Steve mostly seems tired and unimpressed after sometime, Clint is Not Pleased, Natasha quiet. Bruce snorts and smiles into his tea. They’ll have to talk to Fury, too, eventually, but that’s a problem for tomorrow.

In the evening, Tony and Loki are in the penthouse - confined in there, actually. Which is ridiculous because a), this is  _ Tony’s _ tower, and b), they can teleport away whenever they want. But they agree to stay, for the time being, and end up curled up in Tony’s - their - bed, close to each other. Somehow, this day was goddamn exhausting.

“What do you think will happen now?” Loki asks. Tony’s voice sounds soft, pensive, but not actually worried anymore.

“I think,” Tony replies, “that you might not get around changing sides, over the long haul.”

Loki responds with a reluctant sound and makes a face. “Lovely.”

Tony reaches out and lets his fingers wander over his own face, following the line of his cheekbone, his beard, his jaw. “If you want to stay with me, that is. You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Loki says at once, his tone light. “No matter what it takes, I’ll stay. If you’ll have me.”

Tony snorts and moves closer. They are both lying on their sides, faces now so close that their noses are touching. Tony bumps his into Loki’s - or Loki’s into his own, for that matter. Anyway. (This can get confusing very quickly.) “Of course I’ll have you, idiot. I love you, you know.”

Briefly, Tony realizes that they haven’t told each other that before. He doesn’t even know why; he’s known for a long time now. He’s sure that Loki knows, too, but somehow Tony’s breath still catches in his throat when he watches his own brown eyes go wide and stunned. That just lasts for a second, though, then Loki uses Tony’s lips to smile, as brightly as only Loki can. He even laughs, then leans in to kiss Tony.

That doesn’t stop for quite some time, not even when they lose their clothes, not even Loki pulls away, breathless, to ask in Tony’s voice, “Are you sure you want to - like this?”

“Loki,” Tony says, burying his hands in brown hair to pull the other close again. “I don’t give a flying fuck what bodies we’re in, as long as it’s us. As long as it’s  _ you. _ ”

“I love you,” Loki whispers back, then there’s another smile, and another kiss - and many more.

 

~

 

They wake up in their own bodies in the morning, and Loki can’t really say why. His magic just is unexplainable like that. He pulls Anthony close against his chest, wrapping his arms around the smaller man’s middle. Loki remembers falling asleep in a very similar position, only… the other way around.

“God,” Anthony mutters, still half asleep. “Nothing against yours, really, but this is  _ better _ .”

“Yes,” Loki agrees. His lips are already ghosting over Anthony’s cheek, his jaw, his neck. “It was… an interesting experience, though.”

Anthony laughs; Loki can feel the vibrations of it. “Yeah, it was. But -” He turns in Loki’s arms and touches his face, brushing some raven strands out of the way.. “Not that it  _ matters _ \- I meant what I said, I don’t give a fuck - but I  _ like _ your body when it’s you inside of it, you know. Better than when it’s me. Does that make sense?”

“I understand,” Loki says, and kisses him. “And I feel the same.”

Anthony smiles, and  _ gods _ , Loki missed that smile, so much. They kiss, and Loki’s magic hums contently in his veins. Loki doesn’t really know what it wanted to achieve with this, but it seems to be happy.

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr :)](https://amidnight--dreary.tumblr.com/)


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